Mick Jagger Springs Two New Vibrant Solo Tracks, ‘Gotta Get a Grip’ and ‘England Lost’

Yesterday afternoon, on July 27, 2017, Mick Jagger released two previously heretofore unannounced solo tracks: “Gotta Get a Grip” and “England Lost.” The pair of songs were urgent responses to what Jagger calls “confusion and frustration with the times we live in.”

The tracks are currently available via download services like Spotify (multiple service links can be found below), on a CD single, and VIA a limited edition 12-inch. We here at HRAC hope 24-bit versions will also be made available.

Jagger says the songs were a result of “anxiety, [and] unknowability of the changing political situation.” He delivers a biting personal commentary across the two songs atop guitar drones and emphatic beats as he touches on everything from aggressive news cycles to holding those in power to account.

“England Lost” takes us back to a football match that Jagger attended, and uses the moment as an analogy for a country at a political crossroads. (I suppose one could also substitute “The U.S.” for “England,” but that’s another story entirely.) Watch the video for “England Lost” right here (directed by Saam Farahmand, and starring Luke Evans):

Meanwhile, “Gotta Get A Grip” takes us with Jagger as he rattles issues of war and political scandal around in his mind and defiantly spits them out. This is the man soundtracking a moment in time in an electric, disruptive, and thought-provoking fashion, the way music of the moment has been known (and expected) to do for decades. Watch the “Gotta Get A Grip” video here (directed by Saam Farahmand, and starring Jemima Kirke):

In a press release, Jagger discussed a number of topics related to these two songs. Of “England Lost,” he explains, “Ostensibly, it’s about seeing an England football team lose, but when I wrote the title, I knew it would be about more than just that. It’s about a feeling that we are in a difficult moment in our history. It’s about the unknowability about where you are and the feeling of insecurity. That’s how I was feeling when I was writing. It’s obviously got a fair amount of humor because I don’t like anything too on the nose, but it’s also got a sense of vulnerability of where we are as a country.” He continued, “Right from the off when I started writing ‘England Lost,’ I imagined having a British rapper on the track… Skepta stepped in at a moment’s notice, and I just loved what he did.‘’

Mick Jagger: Crossed arms, and crossroads.

Of “Gotta Get a Grip,” Jagger observes, “The message I suppose is – despite all those things that are happening, you gotta get on with your own life, be yourself and attempt to create your own destiny.”

On the current political climate, he notes: ‘’We obviously have a lot of problems. So am I politically optimistic? …No.”

On releasing two standalone tracks, Jagger says, “I started writing these two songs in April and wanted them out straight away. Doing a whole album often takes a long time even after finishing it with all the record company preparations and global release set up. It’s always refreshing to get creative in a different fashion, and I feel a slight throwback to a time when you could be a bit more free and easy by recording on the hoof and putting it out there immediately. I didn’t want to wait until next year when these two tracks might lose any impact and mean nothing.”

Finally, on who he’s listening to right now, Jagger shares,“I do quite a lot of trawling for music online, and also the youngsters in my family all play me music when we get together, so I get to hear all kinds of things. I listen to R&B and pop and strange mixes of old and new, and then like everyone, I make my own random playlists. The last things I added to a list were Kendrick Lamar, Skepta, Mozart, Howlin’ Wolf, Tame Impala, obscure Prince tracks, and classic soul stuff from The Valentine Brothers. I really like Kendrick Lamar; he’s also talking about discontent, and he really nailed it. I thought his stuff, and what Skepta is doing, are very interesting and pretty much on the button.’’